"Why?"
"He was my friends," said Oscar, indignantly. "That is why. It was all businesses, like some other businesses. Ah, those soldiers! Cowards! Assassins!"
"What did they do?"
"Oh, it was very painfuls," said Oscar, with regretful melancholy. "Very painfuls!"
"What was?"
"It was very painfuls. For three months the soldiers did hunt poor Stefanos and his brother, and killed all the others. One day I was sitting on a divan after shooting boars, and the Greek priest of the village and his friends came in with the head of Stefanos in a bundle. The brother of Stefanos had escaped. The Greek priest wore a purple robe, which was some presents from the Governor of Smyrna."
"Well?"
"Oh, there is nothing more. They all sit round the floor, and I say, 'Who is this?' The Greek priest, he say: 'Effendi, I am a great man, a very great man. I killed Stefanos.'
"They say: 'This is a great man, a very great man. He killed Stefanos.'
"The Greek priest say: 'I went up the hill in the heat of the sun, and Stefanos sleeps himself in the vineyard. I took my gun, my very great gun, and crept close to Stefanos.'